AMERICAN HOTELS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 83, 6 January 1928, Page 10

AMERICAN HOTELS

SATISFYING MODERN NEEDS

HOW THE TRAVELLER IS PROVIDED FOR

(By H. Plimnier.)

Whilst the coming into effect of prohibition in New Zealand lias affected the available accommodation to the travelling publL adversely, it has had just the opposite effect in the United States, where the hotels, robbed (theoretically, at all events) of the liquor trade, have vied witii one another to do the traveller well in many things that count for comfort and which, in this part of the world, may be regarded as luxuries. Most people are aware that there are few hotels in the large cities that do not have a bathroom and telephone included in the cost of the room, and such accommodation can be obtained in almost any of the larger centres for from 3 dollars to 10 dollars per night (which price does not include meals of any kind). A Catch In It. Of course there are catches, even when you pay something iti between the prices mentioned. For instance, the stranger to the country, finding the telephone at his elbow whenever he is in his room, is apt to use it a good deal more than he would if there was a little trouble attached to getting a connection; and is consequently surprised at thd end of the week to find several dollars being charged for telephone calls. Then he finds that for every call made he is charged 10 cents (5d.), a discovery that as a rule makes him a little less eager to take the receiver from his bedroom hook. But apart from the telephone and bathroom, the conveniences are very good, and at times surprising. It was a little unexpected to find a Bible in every room at some of the New York hotels. On inquiry as to this practice, a shrewd American hotel manager said that the idea of having the best Book ever written could scarcely be objected to, “even if the plot were a bit hackneyed.” Every guest is provided with a clean set of towels each day, and daily the fresh cakes, of soap (always wrapped in paper) are placed at one’s disposal. Ice water is always to be had for the asking, and steam heat means the turning of a faucet. All Wants Supplied. ' What amazed me not a little was to find a clean face-cloth (in an envelope), new boot cloths for removing the dust and restoring the morning shine at anv time during the day, and needles, threaded with black and white cotton, for the use of the ladies. But the new hotels go even farther. In one chain of new hotels in the east, radios are supplied in every room, so that guests remaining in the hotel of an evening may listen-in to any one of a dozen magnificent programmes. Indeed, people may retire to bed, and, with the aid of the head ’phones may lie there in comfort and warmtii and drink in the music from any one of half a dozen symphony orchestras, or whatever other class of music appealed to their fancy. In some hotels reading lamps are attached to the head of the bed itself {elongated globes within a metal shade), manipulated by a simple sideways switch of ebony. Incidentally there is no annual or anv other charge for radio sets in the United States. A person’s liability ceases when he purchases and has installed his wireless set, most of which are now independent of aerials .of any kind. In England one sees thousands of aerials in every suburb, but in America such a sight is not nearly so common, owing to the internal aerial having come into fashion. Dining In all American hotels the. traveller may book his seats for any theatre; mav have his reservations made in any train or steamer; may purchase any paper, daily, weekly, or monthly, on the premises. All hotels have their hairdressing saloons and manicurists, and, in the larger hotels in New York, there is at*, array of shops within the building from which almost any common necessity wnay be purchased, ythe goods ranging right up to the choicest evening confections for ladies, and evening dress, shirts, ties, socks, shoes, etc., for men. , ■ In the matter of food, such is the demand for light refreshments ■ as against the heavy six or eight-course meals of yesterday that not only is there a large dining-room for full dinners, but there is provided a modern cafeteria, where one may help oneself to anyth’ng that one may desire. The help-yourself idea is rapidly gaining ground. It is a common enough sight at midday to find such places crowded, and the procession of people along the counter practically endless. All the staff has to do is to keep the counter well supplied, and to remove the soiled dishes from the tables. At such places it is possible to get quite a good meal for half a dollar, particularly if one is partial to salads, in the making of which Americans excel.